


Take a break and get away

by Ljparis



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Multi, Yavin 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-08-24 16:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16643918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ljparis/pseuds/Ljparis
Summary: Cassian goes looking for Jyn and is surprised by what he finds. Or, three of our favorite rebels take a break in the middle of everything else.





	Take a break and get away

**Author's Note:**

  * For [incognitajones](https://archiveofourown.org/users/incognitajones/gifts).



> I really enjoyed exploring this for you, getting inside Cassian's head a little, and I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> A quick note: there really isn't a great way to describe when this takes place, but basically it's on Yavin IV and all three of them are there and it's before Scariff, so ... !

Cassian went looking for Jyn, hoping that the two of them could go to the mess together, eat some of the fresher food before it was back to gruel and rations. He didn't find her in her quarters or in the command center. Or in the hangar bay either. All of the usual haunts were empty of Jyn Erso. He asked around but no one had seen her, not really, except that Wedge Antilles mentioned off-handedly that he thought she might have gone off somewhere with the princess.

Of course he knew exactly what princess Wedge was talking about - there was only one princess who regularly hung around Rebel bases - and that was the one whom Cassian tried to forget about most of time. Too much trouble for him to get into when it came to someone as untouchable as Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan. And that had nothing to do with the severe looks Cassian had been on the receiving end of over the last few years from her father, Alderaan's viceroy. 

Jyn was in his orbit now, here on Yavin IV and everywhere, it seemed these days. Better to keep the princess at twice an arm's length and forge relationships with someone who wouldn't think she was sullying herself by spending time with him. 

The idea that Jyn and Leia might be off somewhere together, however, was enough to make Cassian's head ache with some kind of confusing lack of understanding about just what it meant to be a member of the rank and file. He didn't even know that they had met yet, and already his mind was off worrying about them ganging up on him. Not that he was the type of man that allowed himself to be ganged up on, not Cassian Andor.

He stepped out of one of the lesser used base exits, one that from the outside was overgrown and hard to spot, even if someone knew it was there, and breathed in the muggy air. The scent of exhaust still prickled his nose, but nowhere near as much as it did when he was in the hangar bay. He mucked his way through the high grass and overgrown brush until he found the worn-down trail he knew was there.

As someone who had been doing this - rebelling, spying, blending in - for, essentially, his entire life, it was impossible for him not to be paying attention to even the slightest change in the air around him. Someone could breathe too heavily and Cassian would pick up on it.

It was easy for him to hear the muffled conversation, laughter, carrying through a break in the thick foliage in front of him. Just down over the embankment was a river, one that had spent much of the last few months dried out and rock-covered. But rain had blown in a few days ago and stuck around long enough that last he heard, it was back to being a river. And someone was down there. 

Cassian wouldn't be doing his job well if he didn't go ensure that it was just a few rebels splashing around and not unwanted guests.

Careful not to make any noise himself, Cassian, his hand steady on his holstered blaster, slipped down the embankment, remaining hidden in the trees, until he had a direct view of the river. He rested his back against a wide tree trunk. Feminine laughter filled the stilled silence around him, and he was shocked to find, when he slowly leaned around the tree to see who it was, Leia and Jyn sitting on flat rocks in the middle of the river.

He realized, at that moment, that he had never heard Jyn laugh before, had never seen a smile light up her face as it did now, the glow of the red giant's light hitting her smooth skin at the right angle that time of day. As for the princess, Cassian had never seen her hair down, the ends reaching past her hip, to her thigh. It was unbound, pulled thick over her shoulder. 

The two women sat, stripped down to their alliance-issued tank tops and underwear, on a wide, flat rock in the middle of the river, only about twenty feet from where Cassian hid. Jyn sat, her legs in the water up to her knees, with the princess kneeling behind her, hands in Jyn's hair. She twisted and braided the hair, which was also longer than Cassian realized. These women and their hair ...

Cassian forgot how to breathe.

Their conversation was clearer from where he was now, and he closed his eyes, held his breath, and told himself he really shouldn't be listening at all.

"He's very mysterious, isn't he?" the princess was saying, her voice low. "So broody all the time. My mother once told me that one the greatest delights in life is to get a man who wears a permanent frown and furrowed brow to smile for you."

"He's not all that bad," Jyn said. "Or at least, I don't think he's all that different than me."

The princess was quiet for a moment. "Then I was right. You need to give it a chance. What's the worst that can happen? He rejects you? First, Jyn Erso, you are a stronger woman than that and two, he won't. I've seen the way he looks at you. He's so obvious. So the question is, what are you going to do about it?"

Cassian wasn't so vain that he immediately assumed they were talking about him. Then again, he couldn't think of anyone else they'd be talking about _besides_ him. No, he wouldn't assume but he also wouldn't walk away.

"I'm not going to do anything about it," Jyn said. "I'd rather do something about you."

If the princess gave a response, Cassian didn't hear it. In fact, the conversation seemed to have stopped altogether. He waited another moment before moving, leaning ever-so-slightly around the trunk until he could get another good look at the river, at the two women he was, essentially, spying on. (He was a spy, after all, was he not?)

They were still there, on the rock in the middle of the river, preoccupied with each other. In the way that meant Jyn had crawled up and tangled herself around Leia, their arms and hands were entwined, mouths searching, seeking the other's.

Cassian stepped forward, distracted, his boot hitting a stick, the crack louder than even the babbling water of the river between him and Leia and Jyn. He froze.

Jyn turned her face toward him, the sunlight hitting her skin just right to make her glow. "Cassian," she said, glancing at the princess. "Why don't you join us?"

He stared at her, his mouth open.

The princess smiled, laughed lightly. Her hand was still twisted in Jyn's hair, at the nape of her neck. "I knew he was a man of few words, but I'm not sure he has _any_ right now." There was something about her, Cassian recognized, that showed that even in this playful moment, she was in control. With Jyn right alongside her.

Cassian closed his mouth.

"What's wrong?" Jyn asked, concerned, her brow furrowed. She set a hand on the princess's knee, her thigh really, but looked at Cassian with a near-frown.

"N-nothing," he managed to get out, the word hardly audible.

Leia tipped her head to the side, her hair spilling down her side. "Don't tell me that you're not interested," she said pointedly. "We were just talking about how you were, which I'm sure you heard." She smiled. "The water's warm and we don't bite."

Jyn smiled too, and Cassian couldn't help but follow suit. 

He stripped his jacket off and removed his holster and blaster before sitting on the river bank to tug off each of his boots. 

It really was something to see them both relaxed like this, enjoying the afternoon, its warmth, the relative privacy of the spot they chose along the river. He doubted anyone else would stumble upon them. He was, frankly, shocked that he had.

He looked up to find Jyn and the princess watching him as he waded through the warm water, his trousers rolled up to his knees instead of taking them off. The river seeped into the fabric anyway, sticking to his thighs, before he made it to the rock and climbed up to join them both.

"How long has this been going on?" 

Jyn lifted a shoulder. "Nothing's really going on here," she said. "We're just taking a break before -"

Leia's hand moved up Jyn's back. "Before we all have to do our jobs," she finished diplomatically. She tucked her chin over Jyn's shoulder and looked at Cassian, her eyes dark and big, her lashes long.

He knew she hadn't meant to bring the mood down, but the facts of their situation were clear. They were at war and in the next few days, that war was going to escalate. Cassian never took time for himself like this. He didn't know if this would be their only chance together. If that was what this was.

"What is this though?" Cassian pressed. He was used to not having answers, as a spy, but this seemed a simple enough ask.

Leia and Jyn looked at each other. Jyn's hand slipped down to interlace with Cassian's. "I think this is just a chance, for us, to be apart from everything else, but still be together."

"To enjoy each other?" Leia ventured, the words a question, looking for their agreement.

Jyn nodded. "Yes," she said, "please."

Cassian looked at them both, expectantly, and then sat down between them, his face a little warm. "I think I can spare a few hours for you two."


End file.
